Hope, faith, realism - be still my beating heart.
The left side is not looking in great shape and the stumbles will come from all over the pitch,
and Godfrey's injury is a big blow that they're are going to have to dig deep to overcome.
and bc of this the midfield will need time to become more assured against tougher opposition.
And a manger bounce can always paper the cracks.
But its got me thinking about what Lampard is to these current footballers.
He may not have Carlo's managerial pedigree and experience for example, but what you get from someone like Carlo is a relationship of respect that is somewhat distant and not wholly relatable.
Frankie's understanding and feel of the modern player would be different to someone like Carlo, and as such the respect and faith is of a different resonance.
A resonance that probably fits better with this club than others.
Everton players play in front of another resonance that is ancient in footballing terms. Generations of the same people that have not just witnessed but lived aiming for, becoming and being the best. Nothing less will do. You may scoff at the motto in its current state but that does not drown out the resonance that exists through time.
The other 'great' clubs that have extracted success from the Premier League era, the standard flag bearers, are not like Everton bc for a start they are no longer the generations of the same people.
Everton has never sold itself like the other great clubs in this sense. The Evertonians resonance against Brentford was real and its never stopped being true. As it was true during Benetiz reign of terrible.
The players don't need another old timer telling what's what. They already have that in abundance every time they walk on that pitch.
What they need is something they can respect, relate to and aspire to, in the now. And Frank is as much an embodiment of that as anyone.
Other managers might say they get the club, but I think what Frank gets more is that nuance.
This club doesn't need agenda driven fan groups and to subscribe to premier league marketed narratives.
Its organic and in the end is rooted by an honorable demand to play your best, become the best. Nothing more.
... As a non local supporter, one of the things that pulls me to this club is the realness of what best means
something in this day and age that feels like its swimming upstream.
Anyways, as it stands, Frankie and the players have a mountain to climb to become their best